Spokesman: ‘Greek government looks for solution’

“It was not possible to bridge the differences and come up with a concrete solution,” government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

Although the distance between the IMF and the German Finance Ministry has been reduced in the last few weeks, he said, it still remains.

“The solution presented at yesterday’s meeting did not correspond neither to the targets set in the previous period nor to the sacrifices of the Greek people”, he explained. Therefore, postponing the agreement for a few days in order to be able to present a better proposal was the best solution, the government spokesman said.

The Greek government will exhaust every possibility at all levels, aiming to have a clear solution at the forthcoming Eurogroup meeting regarding the definition of the medium-term measures for the Greek debt relief without grey zones and without ambiguity. A solution that will pave the way for a definitive exit from the crisis and will correspond to the sacrifices of the Greek people.

Referring to the medium-term measures on the debt, he said that they will have to be defined so that the IMF can make a positive debt sustainability report and fully participate in the programme.

In his introductory remark, Tzanakopoulos conveyed the Greek government’s grief and dismay for Monday’s terrorist attack in Manchester.

“Today, we are all on the side of the British people and declare the absolute support and solidarity of all Greeks. We insist on our firm position that democracy and freedom are not being blackmailed or terrorized,” Tzanakopoulos.

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The Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) (Greek: Αθηναϊκό-Μακεδονικό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων, AΜΠΕ) is a Greece-based news service. It is a public entity anonymous company. It was founded in 2008 as the Athens News Agency - Macedonian Press Agency S.A. (ANA-MPA SA), under a presidential decree which merged the Athens News Agency (ANA SA) and the Macedonian Press Agency (MPA SA).